The 12th Syracuse Nationals - Right Coast Rodding

Produced by the Right Coast Association, the 12th Syracuse Nationals at the New York State Fairgrounds drew almost 7,600 cars this past July, with attendees from all over the United States and Canada. Having wanted to attend the show for a number of years, we finally made it this summer, thanks to the constant harassment from our old pal “East Coast” Artie (just kiddin’!).

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Artie hosts Artie’s Party as part of the event, with pinstripers giving their time for free to participate in one of the biggest panel jams we’ve witnessed. All the artwork produced is sold through a series of auctions over the weekend, with 100 percent of the profits benefitting the McMahon/Ryan House Child Advocacy Site, a not-for-profit organization in Syracuse. This year $62,000 was raised through the auctions. Good work ladies and gentlemen!

The three-day event also featured three of the actors from Happy Days, 15 bands, firework displays, and 350 vendors, in addition to the cars in attendance, with the furthest travelled coming from Oregon! Out on the edge of the fairgrounds a barn hosted the Old Skool Roundup, with some neat (and it has to be said, not-so neat) rods of the “ratty” persuasion. Amongst their number though were some cool traditional rods and some seriously neat survivors, making for a great show-within-a-show.

3/17Looks like Simon Steel’s ’29 roadster started life as a coupe or sports coupe, but now it just plain rocks! With a six pack on an aluminum-headed small-block, and a bare aluminum—but comprehensively dimple-die punched—interior, we were all over this roadster!

Also part of the event was the Winfield Award, where well-known customizer Gene Winfield picks his Select Six from a number of entries, all displayed in one of the many halls on site, then chooses a winner that represents excellence in automotive design and build techniques.

Even with three days to get around the show, we felt we hadn’t seen it all (we did, we always do. Thank goodness for golf carts!), which is always the mark of a good event. Check out www.rightcoastcars.com for information on the 2012 event.

Winfield Award

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Though the majority of the Syracuse Nationals is an outdoor event, there are some indoor displays, as well as vendors, model car displays, and Artie’s Party, the pinstriping and artwork section. Also indoors are the cars competing for the Winfield Award, created to recognize excellence in automotive design and build technique. From the many entries received, the finalists are displayed at the show, with Gene Winfield present to whittle them down to the Select Six, the winner is presented with the award during the Saturday evening dinner dance at the fairgrounds.

While traditional customs are present, Winfield doesn’t restrict his judging to the type of car he’s famous for, as evidenced by this year’s winner, the chopped, channeled, and sectioned ’71 Javelin of Lenny Legere, dubbed “Mistress”. Sitting on a tube chassis, and painted pink over candy gold, the Javelin was barely recognizable, resembling a ’70s European sports car, which isn’t surprising when you learn it was built 21 years ago! Of course our favorite to win was Rick Bennett’s traditional Merc, with many, many subtle mods, some of which had to be pointed out to us. Of course Winfield spotted them all!